My Uncle Vanished. Where Did He Go, Mr. President?

The program is based on a musical part but also on a spoken word that will be given in Czech language only. The program will not be supplied with English subtitles.

With musicians and young actors, through dramatic reading and music we are immersed in the story of priest Josef Toufar, who was tortured to death by Communist State Security officers in January 1950. The script is based on Miloš Doležal’s books As If We Should Die Today and A Step into the Dark Night. The programme includes period photographs. Following the dramatic reading there will be a forum and discussion with invited guests.

“For our pupils, this was one of the first steps in the topic of Czech post-war history. The step was not easy, just like the period when Josef Toufar lived. They appreciated the depth of the story, but they had a hard time dealing with the cruelty of Father Toufar’s fate. One girl asked a very telling question: ‘What was it that he had actually done wrong?’ (…) Maybe the way today’s young people take freedom and rule of law as a matter of course will be a guarantee that they won’t let it be taken from them.”